With about two weeks to go until the start of the regular season, shortstop Stephen Drew and first baseman/DH Kendrys Morales still remain unemployed. Both players rejected $14.1 million qualifying offers from the Red Sox and Mariners, respectively, hoping to sign big, multi-year contracts, but it never happened. Meanwhile, players like Nelson Cruz and Ervin Santana, who also rejected qualifying offers, settled for one-year deals to find a home and get into shape before the start of the regular season.

Boras says his two clients, who continue to work out in Florida, will wait for the right deal, reports ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick. Both could even wait as long as after the draft, when the draft pick compensation attached to them would disappear, making them more attractive to prospective teams and giving them more leverage in negotiations.

Boras criticized the qualifying offer system, even going so far as to call it “jail”.

“The system they’ve been dealt has basically prevented them from free agency,” Boras said. “They want to make sure about their next step, whatever that will be. It means either signing a long-term contract now — and we’re still taking offers on those — or a number of other prospects that could occur after the season starts or in June, after the draft happens.

“Like any players, they want to play baseball. But they’re also looking at the long-term aspect of their careers. This system has placed them not in free agency, but it’s placed them in a jail.”